


Only Acting

by orphan_account



Category: Cinderella 2015
Genre: Drama, F/M, Modern AU, Romance, TV Show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 01:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4081342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When hopeful actress Ella Papille makes the big jump between silent extra to second lead in an upcoming hit her life is changed forever. Finding a Fairy Godmother of sorts in the costume designer, the beaten down girl blooms under the circumstances and despite her lesser role in the show swiftly becomes a fan favourite. However, she is slowly becoming keenly aware of her co-star and his unexplainable interest in her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Painted Blind

**Author's Note:**

> This is, please understand, inspired by another fic called "Lights Camera Action" by magical mistress224 (on fanfiction.net, and nevergrowoutofdisney on tumblr) and I really hope you treat this as a fanfiction of a fanfiction as opposed to stealing an idea, but I'll take it down if it's not acceptable.
> 
> WARNING: This fic won't be updated regularily, but I'll try throw in a new chapter once a week or so :).

Ella waited in the room, stomach churning as the minutes lengthened. She hadn't even thought she had been that good to receive a call back, and had nearly dropped her phone when she had picked up and heard the casting director's voice on the other end of the line asking her to make an appearance at the studio the following day.

Her agent, Barney, had landed her a reading the previous month for one of the most anticipated TV Shows still in production. The Producers were a set of twins, brother and sister, who had done a couple hundred historical drama's before and were well loved by the public and actors for their breath of fresh air into the industry and the costume designer had a world famous fashion line (that Ella very much admired, but knew she could never afford to buy anything from). Teasers of the script had been leaked as soon as it was confirmed to be happening, causing a media frenzy and the first casting list had almost broken the internet. Ella had not even thought to bother asking to get a good word in, but Barney was magical like that. If she had got this, it could change her life. No more ridiculous low key indie films that had three english variations, no more cheap extra jobs in movies. She could actually work with this.

She had initially tried out for the role of "Aleida", who Ella had discovered, with disappointment, was officially cast the next week, but when she returned she was asked to read a few lines for "Calla" and within moments was informed she could leave. On reflection, she hadn't dressed excessively well. Her coffee had spilt down the right side of her shirt so she was forced to wear a grey cardigan to cover it and her jeans were a little tired looking, her boots had been soaked through (how darling rain can be) and her usually blonde hair was a dark a floppy mess. This, however, made her reconsider whether or not she had, well, talent! She was to do a reading with none other than the Chelina Castilla, former model and currently sickeningly famous actor, cast as "Aleida" from the script and an unannounced actor as "Derek". She was seriously being considered to play, even a minor, role in an amazingly popular up and coming TV Show. How surreal could her life get?

"Miss Ella?" An assistant approached, checking a clipboard to assert his assumption of her name. "Room Three." Shaking, Ella made her way down the hall and knocked quietly on the door that had a big and bold number three spray painted onto it. After receiving a curt instruction to enter, Ella slowly opened the door.

The room was dull and lifeless, excluding a desk and a gathering of chair behind it where well dressed associates sat sipping hot drinks and two unmoving figures in the centre of it all. Ella recognised the woman as Chelina Castilla and very nearly forgot to breathe as the woman crossed the room to greet her.

"Hi, I'm Chelina!" She smiled with a dazzling display of white and perfectly aligned teeth, extending a hand as she flicked back her dark hair.

"Ella." She responded, for a terrifying moment forgetting her own name in the presence of the stunning actress. "I love your work."

"Thank you! Are you officially cast?" Chelina continued, deep red lips never ceasing to smile as she shook her hand. Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "Christopher here isn't either, but I'm sure you'll both pull through, yea?!" Ella's attention was turned to the young man behind them in the flannel shirt, pretending like he wasn't interested in the conversation and waiting to be introduced.

"I prefer Kit, actually." He told her, grinning as they shook hands and Ella couldn't help but see how blue his eyes were, like the sky.

"Positions please." A deep voice boomed from the side. "Chelina, ‘Mister Kit’-" the tall mans mocking tone did not go unnoticed "to the centre and Miss...Ella?" Ella quickly nodded. "Miss Ella to the side, try to be surprised."

Ella's anxiety made her act far more shocked and apologetic than she would have liked, her jitters overcoming her when her character walked trough a fake doorway to see Chelina and Kit talking quietly, their voices sincere and hushed. She had read the script a thousands times in preparation, memorised it to every debatable grammar error and ink blot her faulty printer had added and although she saw the pair talking and remembered their lines from the script, Ella could not hear the exchanged words of proposed love.

After re-run after re-run of the small paragraph, the assistants scrutinising every movement and vocal sound, the three were finally released with promises of information going to the two uncertain actors that were not promised roles.

"I hope to see you again, Miss." Kit told her, with a genuinely felt smile that could of stopped a train. Ella felt like she might collapse any moment, and after hurried thank you's and good byes she ran all the way in the rain to the bus station and then all the way back home to her apartment from there, splashing passing citizens and apologising profusely for it every time.

* * *

"Darling tell me absolutely everything!" Poppy ordered, dropping to the floor of their front room, ice cream tub and spoon still in hand. Ella took a deep gulp from her coke can, washing down the greasy pizza they were sharing, before beginning the tale. They sure did know how to plan a meal!

"Well, first I was show in and I met Chelina FREAKING Castilla!" Earning a ‘Y'know you're allowed to swear, right, Hun?’ from her flat mate. "Then I met this guy who was with her, he's like in the same position as me at the moment, and we reading out some lines-"

"What did he look like? Is he hot? Oh God, he's hot isn't he?"

"He's no bad looking." Ella replied hesitantly. "I really didn't get a good look at him."

"Did you recognise him from anywhere?" Poppy drilled, intent on finding information of this hot actor. "Wait, did he have this straight-curly thing happening with this black hair and these blue eyes that look like they're CGI? Buzzfeed and Bustle both did these articles on how the producers are considering this insanely hot actor for the role, and he has these eyes that look like blue gummy drops!" She demanded, flicking her ice cream covered spoon accusingly at Ella.

"He did have rather distracting eyes..." Ella admitted, thinking back to how brightly they had shone when he had said good bye to her, that smile on his perfect lips.

"What's his name, again? Christopher or something?"

"Kit, he prefers Kit." Ella provided, taking another slice of pizza out of the box as the TV began to buzz and sing with new life as the Channel -37 News blared up on screen.

"Are we talking about Goody Gum Drop Eyes or Kit Harrington?" Poppy scoffed, turning up the volume to listen to the gossip mongering news update that came on at half past nine every night.

"Yes, Poppy, I met Kit Harrington." Ella replied, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"Well, whoever you met, this could be your big break." Poppy said encouragingly, tearing a slice off the pizza remaining and stuffing it in her mouth between scoops or cookies and cream ice cream. "Isn't this what you've been wanting since you said ‘fuck off’ to that stepfamily of yours?"

"I didn't say that." Ella reminded her with a small smile.

"You might as well of, and no one is more deserving of having millions of people love her than my kind and beautiful friend name Ella." "I'm sure you're wrong." "I'm sure I'm right." 

* * *

 

Genna was being an idiot, making fun of most of the actresses that did readings with Kit and Chelina as she and Jared watched the tapes on repeat, her occasionally throwing popcorn at the TV to make her twin laugh. He didn't find it overtly hilarious. Thanks to his beloved twin, Painted Blind might never happen. The pair had been brain storming the idea for years now, planning through endless nights and after finally getting the go ahead from the studio it looked as id it would cave in and collapse in a gooey mess, like a poorly made cake. They couldn't find a Calla. They had found a Derek, though it wasn't announced yet, and both of them knew he had to be the best one for the job (otherwise the show would be worthless), but no Calla. Jared didn't see the incredible need to have the character involved, she was part of Genna's half of the piece (they had split the shows two plot line into Lady Aleida's and Prince Derek's lives) and therefore he was not intimately acquainted with the storyline of the fictitious being. He didn't see why it was so difficult to cast her either. They had even got the Costume Designer in to discuss preferable body types.

"Last one." He announced with a resigned sigh, pressing play for what might have been the one hundred and fortieth time that day.

"Very tiny." Leanore noted from in between the siblings, watching as a delicate girl with ash blonde hair walk in on the two actors during a quiet moment set in the middle of the season. "Petite, even. Would save an excessive amount of money on fabric." She murmured approvingly, watching the young girl act with a favourable eye.

"She's not even half bad." Jared offered, by which he meant she was gifted. She was obviously nervous, but she was channeling the energy into her work and the was a certain air of innocence and sweetness about her that was mesmerising.

"She's perfect." Genna breathed, stunned. It was almost as if she was made to play the part.

* * *

 

Ella grappled for the snooze button on her beaten up alarm clock, aching for the ringing noise in her head to stop. Without success, she was forced to crawl out of bed and search beneath the frame for her elusive phone that seemed to be emitting the pestering noise. She let out a shriek of shock when she saw it was Barney calling, at two o'clock in the morning - to Poppy's great annoyance.

"Remember that reading you did with the other two cast members?" The Agent's energetic voice inquired, despite it being the dead of night. Probably due to the caffeine, in which he drank in bucketfuls at Starbucks every morning, noon and night, but Ella didn't broach the subject.

"Yes."

"Well, my talented sparrow, they must have liked you because they want us to scoot down to the Studio to sign a contract tomorrow morning!" Together they squealed through the phone, and Poppy did in fact barge into the room to demand silence, before hearing the news and promptly hugging her beloved friend.

* * *

 

The fittings had been tiresome, Ella had to admit, the endless pieces of fabric being stitched and poked over her frame as the Costume Designer herself oversaw the assistants, bubbly remarks being thrown in here or there. Chelina had been there usually, with far more lavish outfits being tried on her as the script was read aloud to her, or they discussed what the tabloids had been saying about the show - and it hadn't even started filming. The preps on press relations and public appearances had been overly stressful, the constant bustle of the place nauseating and hearing your name mentioned on -37 News was the strangest feeling in the world (if it was only briefly).

The first day of filming was an interesting one, starting weeks before with the reception of the scene's script to all the actors involved. The first scene they were to film, it appeared, was actually the the last scene of the season and Ella was more than confused at the apparent plot twists that meant nothing to her.

**4\. INT. ROYAL CHAMBERS, SITTING ROOM THREE**

_Prince Derek, Countess Aleida (attended by her ladies, including Calla)_

DEREK

(Quietly)

Could we perhaps be excused a private moment, My Ladies?

_Girls curtsey and exit, but Aleida stops Calla_

ALEIDA

(Playfully)

What is the meaning of this, Your Highness? Surely I am allowed one lady companion to stop the gossips in the corridors?

DEREK I would prefer if we were alone, My Lady.

ALEIDA

Nonsense! There is nothing you have to say that is not appropriate for Calla to hear.

DEREK

_Derek swallows_

My Lady Aleida, you came to court a countess, newly fatherless and in want of a husband you looked for in the Duke of Thiarin, true?

_Aleida nods_

I have felt for a long time love in my heart gathering, ever since you came to court, and it has come to my attention that now is an apt time for me to take the throne. You know of my fathers last wishes, do you not? That I may not be crowned until I have taken a suitable wife, and I find that a suitable wife would be you.

ALEIDA

How my heart has been enchanted by your kind words, Your Highness, but may I ask of this is indeed a request of marriage - for I reciprocate these feelings quite ardently!

DEREK

This is, indeed, a request for your hand and a request for your heart, My Lady. Be my queen, be my bride, and give this humble prince the greatest joy he has ever known.

ALEIDA

I love you, my prince, my king. I am flattered and accept this suit with gratitude, and beg a kiss from my one true love.

DEREK

That can be arranged.

_Kisses Aleida_

 

ALEIDA

I am now quite thankful of my companions presence, are you not? What shall the courtiers think if we are ever alone again?

DEREK

Love looks not with the eyes, My Love.

ALEIDA

But with the mind; and therefore is winged cupid-

DEREK

Painted blind.

* * *

 

The first thing Ella had done when she was handed the newly printed sheets of paper was to read it over and over again - then locked it deep in her draws, so that no prying eyes could find it. The first thing she was told was to never, ever say a word of what was happening in the script to anyone. The entire main cast, made up of a dozen actors and actresses that were generally new blood (excluding Chelina), was briefed on roughly where the show was heading.

Lady Aleida of Ginthar, the recently fatherless daughter of a well recognised count, travels to court with her three closest friends, Marnie (a stewards daughter), Lady Sabille (a lower lords sister) and Lady Calla (her penniless cousin). There, she schemes to marry the Duke of Thiarin, only to attract the attentions of the handsome and courteous prince, who is awaiting marriage until he is crowned king, and reciprocates her feelings full heartedly. Difficulties ensue, when the First Councillor insists that Prince Derek wed a princess and Aleida's mother betroths her to the Duke and so on.

Ella personally believed they were stretching the twelve hours of screen time given, but she kept that to herself. The first day on set was nothing if not enlightening. Camera men were pulling practical jokes, the assistant director was forcing himself into an asthma attic from all the shouting he was doing, coffee was everywhere (and occasionally flying through the air) and Leanore, the Costume Designer, was flinching every time you heard a slight rip of material. And, as Chelina had told her, things would get more hectic when production moved to the permanent sets (Ella was swiftly shown pictures of a gorgeous looking old villa type construction with breath taking gardens).

It was difficult to remember that the place was just made of cardboard and plaster when the world coming to life around her was so vivid. Her dress, the one Eleanor had made for her, was layer upon layer of gossamer green fabric that was like water as she ran her hands trough the thousands of folds in the skirt and she felt like a princess in it. She was, in all seriousness, going to be a noble woman in the seventeen hundreds, even for a little while. Dirty Ella, the constantly beaten step daughter was half a country away from her tormentors, about to make a living and become officially independent.The concept itself brought complete euphoria to her.

After sending a text to Poppy - ‘i am wearing a L. Rose, omfg!!!!!’ - she stumbled out of the dressing room she shared with the actress who was playing Sibelle (a delightful girl, but decidedly chatty) and listened to the order of ‘PLACES’ coming from one of the wings. Calla did not speak in the scene, so Ella remained silent through out the good part of the three hours dedicated to the scene, watching the intimate moment that the two characters, Aleida and Derek, enjoyed and how exactly Kit and Chelina were able to convey the emotions. Up close, Ella couldn't help but feel that Chelina was not as... gifted? an actor as some said, and hated herself for the conclusion. For a second, she considered what it might feel like, to kiss Kit's lips, but quickly disbanded the idea, flushing as the pair asked her to grab some lunch with them - which she was forced to decline, due to Poppy's insistence of her shouting Ella lunch on her first day.


	2. Supposed Interactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ella has a talk with Poppy and Kit storms out of a media conference, to be followed by someone he doesn't mind following him.

Three or four, fully packed, weeks passed between Ella's first scene and the first interview she would do with the press, a joint interview with Chelina, Kit, Mai Mai (Sabille), Beldina (Marnie), Newton (the Duke) and Avian (First Councillor). It was now a week until they started filming at the official location, and while Ella packed she struggled to find something appropriate to wear at the televised event. 

"You need to relax, you know that, right?" Poppy said from the corner of the bed, her pronunciation impeded by the amazingly sized ball of game she was tossing between her molars. "Stop stressing put about everything."

"I'm not stressing." Ella argued in as calm a tone as she could muster. "I don't stress."

"Yes, you do." Was her friends indignant reply. "The day you walked through that door and saw the kitchen you began to irrationally stress over hygiene."

"There was a nest of cockroaches living under the stove!" Ella cried out, distracted at last from the heinous job of sorting through her limited amount of clothes on her minuscule bed. 

"Two does not make a nest." Was the lame defence.

"That would depend upon the gender, Poppy." She scoffed, folding a cardigan into the battered suitcase. 

"Have you ever had a day where you stopped worrying and treated yourself right, I wonder? When was the last day you spent lying in bed? When was the last time you let lose and had a one night stand with someone?" Ella felt heat rise to her face, knowing that she had never done anything like that. Ella wasn't the kind of girl who wasted the day away all on herself, or splashed out on unnecessary items to distract herself. "You know we all thought you were into girls when you first moved in." Poppy continued, referring to her mass of social friends who all looked the same and acted the same to Ella. "No boyfriend, no promiscuous guy friends or anything of the sorts for Ella Papille!"

"You were a into girls when I moved in!" Ella laughed, grinning at her friends selective memory. "You were going out with Rhia Matthers."

"It seemed odd when we were talking about a pretty and blonde english rose of a girl from out of state and a wealthy family moving in with the infamously sexually ambiguous woman that I was in University without an ulterior motive." The brunette pointed out, using up an impressive amount of stereotypes in a single sentence. "That was before we found out you were on a scholarship for the Arts." 

"All the good a wealthy family did me." Ella chortled, gesturing to her now empty drawers. "I have nothing to wear at all." 

"Do they know?" Poppy asked eventually, curious. "Does your Dad and Stepmother know that their daughter will be famous in a matter of months?" Ella never, strictly speaking, had gotten around to telling Poppy that her father had died when she was seventeen and that was why she never went home for Thanksgiving or Christmas, just sat around the flat eating curry while everyone else saw their loving families. 

"No. I don't suppose she'd care." Madame Tremaine had never cared for her ever before, why now? 

"Well, what might we do to fix the dilemma that looms before us, Friend of Friends?" Poppy challenged Ella. Gaining no reply, she promptly explained. "I am taking you shopping and we are buying a jaw dropping dress to wow the journalists."  
_

It may not have been jaw dropping, on reflection, but Ella wore a rather pretty floral number to the interview that drew encouraging smiles from her fellow cast members. She wasn't the focus of attention, Chelina and Kit were, and so she sat quietly in the back chuckling at any smart answers to difficult questions. 

"And this is a romance drama, yes?" The red headed journalist pressed on, making nervous eye contact with Chelina. "Now, Miss Castilla, Kit, do you two have anything to confess as to what might help you through filming." Mai Mai and Beldina nervously laughed on either side of Ella as she saw the back of Kit's neck flush a rapid red. She didn't really know why, exactly, she had taken to staring at his back as the hours dragged by of obvious questions intended to start stories. It was a good back, she supposed, and he had good posture. And that was exactly why she was sitting behind him as opposed to next to him, Ella reflected, embarrassed by herself. She had just complimented a gorgeous specimen of masculinity on his posture in her mind. She wasn't even loudly awkward.

"So you're one of those journalists!" Chelina giggled. "I'm afraid I can not divulge any details concerning that." And Ella's heart stopped. Details? She was sure there were no details. Undoubtedly Chelina wanted there to be details, but so did every single other female on set. Except Ella. Why would Ella want there to be details? She would have sworn a muscle on the side of Kits forehead was spasming (she sort of had a side on view of him). 

"Kit would you care to comment?" The red head - Ella had heard somewhere his name was Kenneth - inquired. 

"I'm afraid there's nothing to comment about." Was his blunt reply, his voice gaining an edge that was unfamiliar to Ella. 

"Not for long though, Ladies!" Kenneth or Karl grinned, looking to the row of young women beside the two leads. "He's a sly one, yeah?" 

Kit turned to meet a chorus agreement coming from his co-stars, excluding the kindly girl who reminded him, strangely, of spring. She didn't seem to know how to respond to the reporters invasive goading. He knew that was going to come up, the question as to was he in a relationship. The answer was no, but it was going to happen and he and Chelina both knew it. In fact, he was ninety percent sure she was driving the pressure. Her and his father and his agent. Still, that didn't make him okay with being asked it, especially since Ella was there, though he wasn't sure why.   
"Now, I've been informed that the official location is, indeed, a getaway venue for honeymooners and anniversaries - any sponsorship from the owners, Jared?" The reporter proceeded to challenge the producer. 

Kit had been told something similar, that there was something about the air of the gardens that made anyone fall in love and half the surrounding neighbourhoods population had been conceived there. Odd fact to publicly promote, but publicity is publicity he supposed, and the photos he had been shown by the ecstatic camera crew made the place seem decent. As he watched Genna and Jared cooly mock the journalist Kit began to think of the conversation he had with his father earlier that day. Old Fredrick had insisted on a photo shoot for his son, now that he was finally completing his fathers long term goals for him, acting fame, and Kit was given no choice but to comply. And in the middle of the private photo shoot, his father had taken the time between Phineas, the photographer preferred by the Regale Family, muttering something about nostrils and his belligerent agent grumbling about publicity to lecture his son on finding a girlfriend. 

Kit, as the son of "the King of Film and Stage" (as fans dubbed Fredrick Regale), had never had anyone genuinely interested in him before. Well, they were never interested in all of him was what he meant. It was his body, his looks, his money, his originally relative fame they were looking at, not his opinions or heart. And that made him ache inside, to know that may-haps no one would ever be. With these gloomy thoughts in heart and mind, when lunch break was called and the cast were taken into a room with food laden long tables, Kit continued to walk out the doors and to the nearest fire escape. 

He didn't expect he'd be followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As soon as I wrote the sentence about no one loving him for his opinions and beliefs I could hear half the Kitella shippers screaming....


	3. Right Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abusige text message leads to interactions. :)

The fire escape door slammed shut with an echoing bang as Kit hurried out into the dingy, wet and grey air of New York. He needed to think and be alone from the gossip mongering press and fame desperate actors that were his day-to-day life. The air was cold, but that was rewarding in a way. Cold meant new and fresh. The cold was something he needed right now. He sat down, defeated, against the iron bars of the structure, completely aware that he was making the rusted old metal creak with every movement. If he was paying attention he might even have been concerned. 

It was unfair, the lot of it. Kit had never been a complainer in his youth, was never the protesting type, but right now his life seemed a series of horrifically unkind events. In the back of his head he was aware how self absorbed and insolent he sounded, but child stars were meant to be like that, weren't they? He hadn't done any acting when he was a child, so perhaps it didn't count, but ever since he could speak he had suffered having cameras shoved in his face and recording devices half way into his mouth to hear what he was saying. His mother had always set heavy rules on where the line was crossed by the media, but when she was diagnosed with cancer.... He was only eleven when she began the failed chemotherapy and three years later he had been sitting in the front row of a church staring at a box. From then on he and his father were thrown into the spotlight of Hollywood. 

Just as he was thinking that his life was, well, as shit as it could get (ignoring the fact that he was the son of one of the richest men alive and was half god to most of the female populace of the earth) someone who had it far worse than him came running through the recently slammed door.   
_

Ella had checked her phone after the interview, to see if Poppy had texted her, and saw one message that made her stomach drop. It was a single word, and elongation of her true name, and it made her want to double over into a ball on the laminated floor and cry. She tried to focus her thoughts on the brightly coloured orange slices that were neatly laid out on platters and the plastic cups. Tried desperately to keep her mind on anything, anything other than the word that had flared up on her lock screen. Anything but that cursed word, the one they had thrown at her six thousands times across the last decade. Her breathing became irregular and her eyes blurred with salty tears, and before Newt could turn to ask her how she liked the first half she had turned and ran from the room. 

Cinderella. That was all she would ever be. Cinder Wench and Dirty Ella. She could not amount to anything else, her stepmother had made that clear. The word echoed through her ears, a thousand shrill mimics of her stepsisters screaming in her ears the cruel words. She could almost feel the kicks and blows, smashing into her shins and arms that she had raised to protect her face. Cinderella, Cinderella, Cinderella. Her borrowed heels nearly snapped as she ran down the hall and pounded through the fire escape door, ignoring the enormous, florescent EMERGENCY EXIT sign that was hung over head.  
_

Kit looked up from cradling his head in his hands, bleary eyed and not all together aware of his surroundings, to see what may have been an angel in hysteria charge through the metal door and next to went over the railings. 

"Miss, miss!" He cried, jumping to his feet to hold her back as she unsteadily gripped the rails. "Are you alright? Miss, I-" He stopped mid sentence upon seeing her up close. It was the girl who was playing Calla in the show, with the heart warming smile and positivity. It seemed so foreign to see her eyes were red and full to the brim of held back tears. It felt wrong. He knew so little about her, but he loathed the world for ever making so kindly and pure a creature weep. 

"I'm fine, really!" She lied, wiping away her tears. "I didn't mean to intrude, I was just going and-" She looked anything but fine. She had looked delicate in the floral number beforehand, but now she seemed frail as her small body was racked with involuntary sobs. All he wanted to do was hold her and force all the pain away. 

"No, take a seat." Kit insisted, gently helping her to the ground before she could refuse. Her body was even thinner than he had anticipated when he wrapped a reassuring arm around her frame, and he recalled horror stories about young wannabes making their way through drama school by half starving themselves. He hadn't pegged her for one of those girls, but maybe he was wrong as he moved her head to rest on his shoulder. 

"Oh God, I'm being so stupid!" She sighed through her tears when at last her breathing slowed, pulling away from him. "I'm so, so sorry, I don't know - it wasn't fair on you, imposing like this." No, it wasn't fair. It was exactly what Kit Regalle needed. 

"It's fine." He assured her with a soft smile, handing her a tissue. "I've grown up around actors, I'm used to this sort of thing." That made her sound so shallow, he realised, and he knew she wasn't. This girl might have been the deepest person he had met before. "Miss, I... What do they call you?" He knew her name, had sung it and muttered it within his mind a hundred times without realising it, but there was a built in throw off he had worked up through the years. A tacit, perhaps to make girls believe he wasn't interested in them. Her face fell instantaneously, but not for the reason he expected. 

"Never mind what they call me." She responded curtly, bowing her head and letting her sunlight hair cascade over her shoulders and cover her face. Someone had bullied her, that he was now sure of. Past or present, someone had called her hurtful names repeatedly and she was haunted by them. Kit fought back the urge to embrace her again, a natural instinct he had with most wounded creatures, but had never been so powerful. 

"I'm sorry." She shook her head at that, she would not allow him to feel remorse on her part. 

"It's not your doing." Was all she forced out, silent silver streaks lining her face. 

"Nor yours either I'll bet." He was so sympathetic when he said those few words Ella almost considered telling him everything, from the abuse and mistreatment she had suffered through with the years of little-to-nothing to eat, to the flustered feeling she got whenever he looked at her (in any other situation her heart would have been pounding wildly at his closeness). She didn't however. The one thing life had taught her was that if you opened yourself up to someone they would either take no notice or laugh in your face in your pettiness. 

"We must simply have courage and be kind." She confessed, and the smile she smiled through her tears was brighter than anything Kit had seen in his entire life, and nothing had given his heart quite the same leap before.

"I can only agree. I'm Kit, if you don't remember." He said, reintroducing himself. 

Of course she remembered. Ella almost laughed for his assumption she had forgotten him. She was certain she never would forget the three letter name or the way it felt bouncing around her head. 

"Ella." She grinned back, taking his extended hand. "Ella Papille." 

"I hope you didn't take any notice of what nonsense the journalist was talking about." He rushed out immediately, begging she hadn't. He needed this girls good opinion, her friendship, her trust. He needed her to see the truth, at least. She was friendly enough with Chelina, so he assumed she was more familiar with the idea of him becoming romantically attached to the Miss Castilla than he was.

"I didn't, for your sake." She grinned, a sweet grin that made him feel as if with her encouragement he could run the world and battle any irrational press members that came his way. They were so close now, so breathtakingly close he could have sworn he could hear her heart beating. Through their separate clothes he could feel her body heat, in the very least, and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about this closeness. He could smell her perfume (a simple, inexpensive floral concoction that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up) and her shampoo (blueberry, he was 90% sure). Why was he taking note of what she smelt like again?

"It will have to happen, I guess, in time." He wanted to open his heart out to her, maybe because she was the first person he could talk to or maybe because of something else. 

"You don't seem so delighted about the prospect." Ella nervously answered, emotion welling within her - a sense of doom, mostly.

"What? To go out with someone and waste three years of my life posing for magazine front covers and centre pieces, only to have it fall through in a melodramatic explosion? Sign me up!" Kit never meant to get sarcastic with her, bit it happened and he was genuinely shocked with the way she dealt with it. She accepted his opinion and took no offence in his manner of speech. "It's done, I suppose." He concluded, heart heaving. 

"Just because it's done doesn't mean it's what should be done." She corrected him, her encouraging smile appearing on her face once more. 

"Right again." And Kit learnt many things through out that conversation, but the biggest and most primary was that he wanted to kiss Ella Papille's soft, sweet lips and crush them between his own. Which was why it pained him to suggest they return to the conference room and finish the interview.


	4. Hidden Door

The Villa could only be described as paradise, even from the brief glimpse Ella, Avian, Beldina, Mai Mai and Newton were permitted before being whisked off to the hotel wing of the house. For the sake of the show the hotel business had been shut down with promises of full compensation once the season was wrapped up, the actors being installed in the facilities to save travel expenses. 

"I saw the list." Mai Mai had scoffed as Ella helped her with her extra bags, gently laying them down on the floor by her bed. "Kit and Chelina have the third floor along with Jared and Genna." Also to cut back on expenses, only the well paid actors have the five star rooms. While Ella just appreciated a double bed that didn't groan and squeak at every movement, this did not sit well with her fellow co-stars. Beldina had even risked a complaint to Jared, by far the more forgiving twin, but had been icily rebuked. Still, Ella had just nodded as Avian and Newton chatted about how it looked classier to the maids if they were springing for five star - although no one was 'springing', as it were, the accommodation being fully paid for by the show's producers. 

Now, she was in her off white room that seemed far too large to be natural with an oddly too clean feel about it, and in her afforded quiet moments repeated over and over again the conversation she had exchanged with Kit on the fire escape at the press interview. That was near a week ago, and Ella had felt as though she had invaded his privacy in being privy to such words. It was stupid, she had reasoned, he had personally shared with her his thoughts, but the young girl couldn't help but feel she had just stumbled upon him at a vulnerable time. Maybe that was why he had avoided his gaze when she had passed him in the lobby, fully surrounded by the security staff that no one seemed to pay attention to, because she had seen him so defenceless. Then again, she had never been attracted to guys who sent out that impression of ‘macho’ swagger that concealed any number of hidden insecurities and she was, if she was honest, most certainly drawn to Kit. Or perhaps it was because Chelina had, at the very instant Ella had entered the room, latched onto her arm and demanded she tell her everything about her day. Beldina and Mai Mai had scowled and snorted at the celebrity's antics, but Ella had smiled weakly at the chattering woman and pretended she enjoyed the conversation. 

Despite trying to be as courageous and kind as would make her mother proud, Ella had grown less and less fond of Chelina's company, and not due to the assumption that she would eventually start to date Kit. She, up close, just seemed too energetic to be genuine and Ella was constantly wary around her, sensing the charade might end any day now. Having grown up with two petty step sisters with the emotional consistencies of turning milk and a stepmother lacking in any form of rationality, the young woman was very well aware of when someone was being stretched too far and was conjuring up a storm of ill temper, and Chelina set her on edge. Ella sincerely hoped the feeling would not last long, for everyone's sakes. Especially Kit's, if what he threatened to be imminent was, in fact, imminent. 

Ella really did try to make good sense of all the feelings she experienced when she thought of him. She didn't even know him that well, of you thought about it. He was the son of Fredrick Regale, known as "the King of Film and Stage" by many in his old age, and Abrianna Riena, a European model that had not so recently passed on, and had been raised to act. That was all she really knew when you considered actual, solid and indisputable fact. Ella, however, could not help but think that Kit was as kind as he was handsome, and although he was a legacy he had enough talent to have worked his way up through the industry. She could not stop herself from believing he sincerely cared for the people around him, from small talk with the assistants (whose main jobs were to replenish the necessary caffeine levels in their designated individuals in order for them to function properly) to political debates with Jared and Genna alongside essay long explanations of motivation, he really appeared as though he took everyone's opinion into account. 

As you should understand, Ella had in no way made up her mind as to what her feelings were for her co-star, only knowing that they were strong and positive, a distinct understatement if there ever was. Everything she saw made her think of him, if that was natural. Even silly, simple things such as the wilting flowers in the vase on the chest of draws straight ahead of her. They seemed so down beaten and acceptant of doom, like Kit had been when she had ran into him on the fire escape. And despite his mood, he had changed it immediately for her and made her feel like a human being again, even though the one worded message was still on Ella's phone. No friends of it had appeared yet, but somehow Ella knew they would - but she wasn't sure she cared anymore. There was such thing as pure, untainted kindness in the world and she had seen it with her own eyes.   
_

Have courage and be kind. The words resounded through Kit's mind like clock chimes, even after the day had gone with the week. Have courage and be kind, it was like the words were now living with him, and eternal motto that followed him about wherever he went. He found himself composing an accompanying theme song to the small phrase as he had made himself dinner, had soon discovered it was a rather catchy if unoriginal and idiotic tune as he caught himself humming it in the shower, in the kitchen, in the car. Just about everything in his day to day life reminded him of the words, because they fitted so well with everything he believed in. Courage and kindness, not publicity and arrogance. And everything reminded him of Ella. 

Having heard the rumours concerning the breath taking gardens, Kit's Head of Security, Phillip (although he liked being referred to as ‘Captain’ and Kit had never objected), had suggested they all go exploring when they had waited in the lobby for a good hour - for a so-called emergency meeting with Genna and Jared. Kit, intent on stretching his legs, had agreed to the idea and so had found some small alone time in between the exotic looking hedges and flowerbeds of the villa. 

The butterfly he had had been following had now fluttered away, to his regret, and Kit had become lost in the gardens. He didn't very well care however, was lost in thought, mind fixated on the expressions and phrasings of a mysterious golden angel that had changed his very point of view on life. He leaned against a clump of ivy, climbing up on the stone walls, sighing at the memory that had made him quite so confused. He had wanted to kiss her, to hold her and make her forget anything that might ever induce that sort of reaction again. He didn't know her, and he felt that he could come to love her if he ever grew to know more of her. And for the first time in his life, the affection he felt die not bring fear, only yearning for when it might grow. Then, Kit felt a strange sort of groan come from the wall he rested his wieght on, and felt it give way with a click, to his fright and surprise.


	5. Season Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Genna and Jared sense Ella and Kit's attraction to each other and lightbulbs hover over heads.

Despite herself, Ella could not help but feel the wine relaxing her as she gradually drank in the red liquid, clutching onto the glass possessively even after it was empty. It had been a stressful day on set, with no one being able to find anything and actors being, well, dramatic. Chelina threw a fit at her assistant after an accident involving coffee and a designer v-neck top, and after having to shoot a scene with the temperamental woman beside her Ella was jittery. Years with her stepfamily had made her nervous and wary when it came to unpredictable people, and she'd been a wreck all day. 

She was, now, sitting in the corner of an obscure looking bar recommended by one of the maids, situated just a minute or two down the road, hoping to fade into the shadows. It wasn't difficult, as there were an awful lot of shadows (with the only lighting being either far too old lamps or firelight), and she certainly preferred the sensation to being watched. At the villa everyone watched her. True, not as much as they watched Chelina and Kit, but she had caught some staff staring, wondering if she's important or famous. She was pretty enough to be an actress, but she could be just another assistant according to the clothes she wore, neither flashy or good quality, but tasteful. 

Ella only needed one thing to send her over the edge right then, but her stepfamily had been pleasantly silent since the media release and it seemed as though, just for a while, she had a reprieve. She would never pretend they didn't exist, however. She couldn't when her goal was to earn enough money to hire a lawyer, to reclaim her parents house and move back there. Acting, although unstable and unreliable, had been her passion in school and Ella had felt that if she was determined enough, she could make it. Of course, her hopes were now riding on a costume drama with a low key cast and small budget, but that would have to do. 

Ella barely made note of a familiar figure moving up to the bar until he drew a chair up beside her and asked, presumably rhetorically, ‘might I join you?’ and her heart stopped when she did notice him. He looked out of place, to say the least, but his undone appearance made up for it somewhat, generally smoothed back hair tumbling down over his eyes and his sleeves rolled up.

"Good evening." Was all she could say as a look of mild bewilderment cluttered her face. 

"Indeed it is." He answered, and he also was struggling for words now that he was in front of her. Why did he make her so nervous? She was just a pretty girl - no. She was so much more than just a pretty girl, she was kind and good and absolutely breathtaking, no matter what state she was in. 

"I'm sorry for, um, what happened at the interview.. with the ahh fire escape." She stammered, blushing at the ridiculous circumstance they had found themselves in. 

"No! No, it's fine!" He insisted, eyebrows knitting together in a frown. She shouldn't be apologising, at all. "Are you, y'know, okay, now?"

"Fine." She responded. "Little stressed, with remembering the scripts and all." He wasn't talking about the scripts, he was guessing at what had brought her to tears at the interview. She didn't tell him about the text, didn't say anything aside from her mothers creed of ‘have courage and be kind’, but her tears were enough to concern him. 

"I think the scriptwriters have a hat full of lines that can apply to any situation and when they're struggling they pull them out and pick a character." Kit suggested, and to be honest his theory had some plausibility. 

"I'm sure they do." She giggled. "There's certainly a pattern." 

"Where do you think the characters are going?" He scoffed, finding common ground on the show. It wasn't a very deep show, with complicated character relationships and sudden, unexpected deaths -that fans cry over for, say, two years afterwards - but it was still an interesting discussion, with only outlines of season two drawn out. 

"Aleida will probably marry Derek." Ella risked offering.

"I think Derek will see that the First Councillor isn't particularly nice."

"I'm sensing some antagonistic hints in Calla, actually."

"You're kidding!"

"No, I think she's going to betray Aleida and maybe go with the First Councillor or the Duke."

"I can't see you ever being an antagonist." He confessed with a grin, shaking his head. "Those lines were written before you were cast." Ella blushed furiously at that.   
_

"Have you ever seen so much sexual tension in your life?" Genna scoffed from across the bar, tossing an onion ring into her mouth as her brother downed half a beer in a gulp. "You're disgusting." She added with displeasure. 

"Those scenes we did today." Jared responded. "Riddled with chemistry. I genuinely expected the guys to CGI sparkles in between them when they made eye contact."

"Chelina's picking it up, too." Genna chortled, flicking her perfectly styled hair over her shoulder, dipping her onion ring once in the mayo and twice in the barbecue sauce before stuffing her face, earning a sarcastic comment. 

"The height of sophistication, sister." Jared drawled.

"Likewise, Beergut." She retorted, but her eyes were back on Ella and Kit. "They look like they're meant for each other." 

"Too bad." He agreed, shuddering at the threat of a beer gut. "If she wasn't fresh blood they'd already have fucked and we wouldn't have to worry about it screwing with the Derek and Aleida relationship." At that, Genna's face light up, enlightened all of a sudden.

"Jar." She began, excitement bubbling inside. "Jar, I think I've found our second season."


	6. Wow

Genna and Jared vaguely briefed everyone on the new direction involving "minor changes" to previously shot scenes. All they said, really, was that Derek would not get what he actually wanted, so it left a lot of ends open for a second season.

So, Ella sat in her hotel room, bundled up in bed with a hot chocolate (with marshmallows turning to goo as she read) flicking through a revamped script. They had announced, at the emergency meeting, that they had two solid episodes to be edited, already, but after that they needed to reshoot any of the scenes that had been filmed. Most of her fellow cast members had rushed back to their rooms and immediately began to read, but Ella had taken a shower to wash her hair and lost out on a head start.

When she checked her phone, six messages turned up on her lock screen. Two from Mai Mai, one from Beldina, and three from excitable Avian. Newt, if she knew him as well as she thought, probably hadn't touched the script yet. All of the texts, however, were short and all consisted of ‘OMFG’ and ‘HOLY SHIT’. She had set about reading the script immediately.

Just as she found the rewritten section, however, her phone vibrated beside her and flashed. An unknown number had texted her, and all though she usually paled at the sound of her notification tone the lack of identification gave her reassurance. Setting aside the stack of paper, she picked up the phone and unlocked it.

_Hi, it's Kit :)_

Ella's heart gave a flutter, and the message was soon accompanied by an explanation.

 _Avian gave me your number_. What should she say? It was iMessage, it told him that she had read it, she couldn't just ignore it. She didn't want to ignore it, even, but what could she say? Ella nervously typed in ‘I wasn't gonna ask’, and read it over a hundred times - earning a ‘ _the suspense! The three dots are teasing me!_ ’ from Kit - before tapping SEND.

 _Did you get to the hallway scene? :)_ He proceeded to inquire.

 _Just turning the page_ , she answered honestly, before adding in a stray smiley emoji for good measure. Did his excess of smiley faces mean anything? Would he take it as a sign if she returned them. Maybe the emoji with the stuck out tongue was more appropriate, but she was too late.

**5\. INT. ROYAL CHAMBERS, SECOND HALL**

_****Derek, Calla_

CALLA (singing)

_Derek enters, following the sound_

DEREK

Such sweet singing, I thought an angel fell to us.

CALLA

(nervously)

Your Highness, I... ah.. please forgive me, I was waiting for my cousin and -

DEREK

Nothing to forgive, My Lady. Calla looks around Might I accompany you, My Lady, I have been instructed to pay Lady Aleida a visit, to apologise for what happened last night.

CALLA

Yes, that was quite something.

_Derek offers arm_

_Calla takes arm_

DEREK

I am afraid she did not thank you for laughing.

CALLA

I am afraid she failed to, indeed.

_Looks cautiously around_

Your Highness, I have to admit that I have not been dwelling on the incident last night.

 _Tell me when u get to the part_ , Kit requested and Ella wasn't sure what he meant by ‘the part’. By this time, she had already gathered this was not the average script and this was just confirmation of her suspicions.

_What part?_

_U'll c_. Vagueness, helpful and evasive vagueness.

DEREK

Oh?

CALLA

I have been otherwise occupied, I am afraid, by the dance.

DEREK

A finer partner I have never had, My Lady.

_Calla blushes_

CALLA

I confess, I would very much like to have more opportunities to dance, Your Highness.

DEREK

I must confess, also, My Lady, that I..

_Plays with Calla's hair_

CALLA

That?

DEREK

That I would very much like to kiss you.

_Derek kisses Calla_

Derek kisses Calla, Derek kisses Calla, Kit kisses Ella, Kit kisses Ella, Kit kisses Ella. Kit was going to kiss her, and she lost her breath at the very thought. Kit was going to kiss her. Kit Regalle was going to press his lips against her own. This was the dream of every single female on set and she was living it. So this was what was going to give them a second season, the relationship becoming complicated between Calla and Derek. Wow. Wow. Wow.

CALLA

There will be an awful lot of times to dance, I'm sure, when you announce your engagement to my cousin, Your Highness.

_Calla exits_

_You are silent_ , Kit observed through the phones. _I assume you've found it_.

 _Wow,_ was what she typed, what she sent off and it was what she could never pull back after she hit enter. Wow? Who the hell says ‘Wow’? Joke about how awkward it's going to be, laugh about how unexpected that was, wonder at the milestone in character development! For the love of God don't say ‘Wow’!

They were to film that scene tomorrow. Tomorrow. How the hell was she going to sleep, even, with the thought that she was going to be kissing him tomorrow - and they would take retakes. She could spend a good portion of the day hanging off his lips. She then realised that the reason Kit would only ever kiss her if he was being payed for it was because she had thoughts like that.

 _Wow, indeed_. Kit went silent after that, and Ella wasn't confident enough to initiate a conversation. Message after message was appearing on screen and not one was from Kit. She made him a contact in her small little list of phone numbers and found a picture of him on the internet - all she needed to do was type his first name into the search engine to find a couple thousand results. She found one of him at a gala with his father that she liked more than the others (his smile was genuine in this one, she could tell), and cropped it before assigning it to his contact.


	7. To Kiss You

"That I would very much like to kiss you." Kits heart was beating in his chest, his pulse thrumming and head pounding. He knew what was coming, just as everyone on set did, but that did not make it any easier to perform. The worst part? He found himself actually looking forward to it - how oddly perverted is that? He was becoming excited over kissing a girl, who was being paid to kiss him back and pretend to like it. It felt a little like he was taking advantage of her, in his head. Then again, he had been kissing actresses since he started getting serious about acting, why was it only now that he came to reconsider it? Hell, his first kiss had been on camera! 

Ella was in no better a state. She hadn't slept for half the night, mind racing around in circles with the knowledge that she was going to kiss him. The initial - what? euphoria, perhaps? - had worn off after a while, replaced with an irrational and very serious fear that she would be laughed at. Ella wasn't exactly a 'pro' at this. She had kissed a few boys in High School, sometimes it was a dare, sometimes it wasn't, but none had really liked her. She was just Ella Papille, Drisella and Anastasia Tremaines stepsister, the one who thought the grunge/retro look was in (she didn't, but she also didn't have a varied choice in what she wore). A few drunk parties in college saw that she had met a few people, but she hadn't actually felt the way she was feeling before. And, she didn't know how she looked while kissing someone - maybe she pulled a face or something... 

All everyone had talked about was the kiss scene. It was on everyones lips, which - come to think of it - was a rather appropriate term of phrase, and not a single cast member wasn't strongly opinionated about the changes made. Chelina, who Ella hadn't even thought about, was not in favour of the storyline change. Kit, waking up early so he could eat some breakfast in town, even heard her demanding a script change.

"Aleida has been with him for nearly the entire season and all the action she's getting is a few hand kisses!" He had heard through the ineffective door to Genna's room. The producer continued to point out that it the show she envisioned was suitable for most audiences, and was not an eighteenth century Tudors, as Chelina seemed to believe it was (Kit had a suspicion that she had been pushing for some extra content for sometime, and he felt a tad violated). the actress was not satisfied with the reply, and Kit did not remain long enough to hear her outraged reply - but it was most definitely not politely phrased. 

And, after all the takes and run throughs, Kit was finally uttering those words, the words that heralded the kiss. It felt strange, with all the crew and some stray, unoccupied cast members watching them, but Kit had gotten used to it, and so hesitantly he laid his hand on Ella's cheek, and in a gasp her lips parted on contacted. He was inches away from her, and her lips looked so inviting. Ella could not belief it was real. His hand was on her face, and soon his mouth would be on hers. An idiotic, girlish thought strolled across her mind, wondering if he would be a good kisser, before dismissing the question. It hardly mattered, she wasn't meant to enjoy it. Even Calla wasn't necessarily meant to enjoy it, the script failing to make any indication of that point, and all she needed to do was pretend. Ella had feigned a lot more than believing in someones prowess in an art to keep them happy, this would be simple.

When he leaned in she shortened the distance between them even more, but her eagerness was not the reason for their shared laughter. It was the awkwardness, the tensity. Ella's arms were still at her sides, and besides his kindly hand Kit was just as rigid and unfamiliar in his proceedings. They were both very, very out of character. So they both pulled away laughing and pretending to not be offended by the others retraction. The Director yelled 'cut' and Jared stumbled over scolding Kit for cupping her cheek. Derek was not intending to reassure her, he was intending to just show the way he felt, and so it was completely inappropriate. Then, the cameras were rolling again and he was saying those lines again, and this time it would be real. 

And yes. He wouldn't be a bad kisser, Ella had decided - his following action even confirming her theory. 

Heat was radiating all through his skin like wildfire, burning as he pressed his lips to hers and despite Jareds instructions Kits hands found her face, drawing her closer following her encouraging response to his movements. Another 'cut' echoed through the hall. Ella restrained the urge to touch her lips as a makeup artist scurried over to her, Kit having smudged her makeup slightly. They felt different, they felt as if the nerves that picked up touch had increased ten fold - like she had more cells on her bottom lip, now that he had gently sucked at it as she stood there, dumbly. She must have looked like an idiot. 

"Okay, my dear." The Director addressed her in a heavy accent, his words thick and slurred. "Now, Calla doesn't want him to kiss her, firstly. So, you have to recoil, and then just throw yourself into it - yes?" Ella nodded slowly as Kit turned back to her, and she blushed. "Don't stand there like a lump. And you, pretty boy." Kit struggled with a frown that fought to appear on his face at the name of pretty boy, his struggle becoming more evident as the man snapped his fingers under his nose. "If you touch her face, do it suddenly. He's not asking her permission, he's a god damn prince!" That doesn't mean he can force people into doing things they don't want to do... "You have to be all in from the go, okay?"

"Okay." 

"From 'to kiss you'." He called, and the cameras refocused don the pair as they stepped closer together. Kit would never have behaved in such a way as himself, and he hoped Ella understood that as he seized the sides of face ‘passionately’ and crashed his mouth onto hers, and forced himself not to pause as he felt her body go rigid. The problem was, for Ella it wasn't acting. His forcefulness had stopped her for five or so seconds, but then she melted, her arms about his neck and in his hair. At that moment, for her at least, they weren't actors playing roles, it was a boy kissing a girl, and she was swept away with the magic of it. Kit, too, found himself to be only Kit when his mouth was crashing against hers, her hands running through his hair and disheveling it. It was next to a nightmare when she pulled away (through no wish of her own).

"There will be an awful lot of times to dance, I'm sure, when you announce your engagement to my cousin, Your Highness." She forced out, and the emotion was real. Heartbreakingly, life ruiningly, real. They were actors, he was acting and she had allowed herself to be caught up in his role. She was foolish, and stupid, and naïve and everything else in between. 

"Cut!" The Director called. "Now, we want some tears from our Calla, yes?" He suggested, brandishing the script in one hand and thumping it in the other. "And pretty boy, you might throw in some tongue!"


	8. Only Acting?

Kit was out of character, at least in the way he behaved. Although Ella would never have admitted it, she had thought a considerable amount about how, exactly, her colleague would kiss her. Derek, his character, would have bit down on her lower lip and shoved his tongue into her mouth, but Kit... Kit was asking her permission, running over her lips hesitantly. She supposed it would look the same, on camera, but it revealed something to her, even if she didn't notice it right then and there. It meant he might just return her affections, that he was kissing her as himself, not some character with a relatively inflated ego off a period drama. 

When their tongues met, Ella's cheeks flushed at the involuntary moan that escaped her, and she almost missed the deep sound that emitted from Kits throat. He felt her hands clutch onto his arms, gripped at the fabric of his costume jacket, drawing him closer as his hands strayed into her perfectly styled hair. Their hearts were hammering in their chests, the erratic rate almost audible to human hearing, and even though their was a tightness in their lungs they didn't pause to catch breath for far longer. At some point, Ella's legs gave out and when they did Kit hauled her weight to lean on him, so intoxicated by her taste he didn't pull away even then. He didn't even stop, even after they yelled cut. Every nanosecond he promised would be the last, but then it was the second to last and so and so on. It was just before the minute mark after the cameras stopped rolling that they heard one of the sound techs snigger, and they broke apart in a flurry of embarrassment and self concious readjustments of clothing and hair. 

"That.. that was..." Kit stammered, not sure of how to justify or explain the unscripted extension to the scene. "Good character development."

"Yes." Ella hastily agreed, blushing an even brighter red as one of the camera men even burst out laughing, hair and make up swarming them both as Genna and the director both ordered a reshoot.

Kit was dragged off set, and shoved into a chair for his hair and makeup team to reorganise his hair and some ornamental things on his costume jacket need fixed and replaced (Leanore suffered a sudden change of heart concerning some details of his get up as she sat behind the screens that the cameras were streaming to). 

"You are meant to pull away, Ella." Genna told her as she handed her the script again, completed with food and coffee stains. "You look pretty with you hair half up, half down." She observed as the hair girl pulled back the lose locks, wielding hairspray and tongs. "No." She stopped the girl (Ella thought her name was Anna or Anha), who frowned concerned. "Leave it like that, the first scenes were drivel anyway." Ella didn't care for her work being dubbed 'drivel', but it was always best to do retakes until you found your best performance, or so she had been advised. She would be more in character this time, and so would he.

"No! No! No!" Leanore clucked, scurrying over to them. "Not authentic." She scolded the producer. "Knot buns are terribly modern, my dear. No, we're going to go for a whole new look if you want a half and half." She proceeded to go about creating a whole different look for Ella, and the actress couldn't help but feel that it was more her than Calla's style. "You do suit it." The costume designer had confirmed as a dismissal of Ella, after it was styled to perfection and twisted into an updo braid construction. 

_

"You like her." Phillip declared from the corner of dressing room, his arms folded and his back leaning against the wall as Kit ran over the script for the umpteenth time. "You really, really like her."

"It's only acting." He responded dismissively, flipping a page. "I am acting a role, thus the name actor." Despite how confident he seemed, inside he wasn't sure - actually, he was almost one hundred percent sure that wasn't the case. Then again, he was certainly not prepared to announce he liked her. He was attracted to her, that was all, and what man on set couldn't be? Yes, she wasn't very sexualised in, well, any aspect of her personality, but she was beautiful. God, she was beautiful, and kind and sweet and passionate, passionate about her dreams and her morals and... Okay, perhaps he liked her. A lot. 

"That scene sure did look a terrible lot like acting." The Head of Security snorted, shaking his head as Kit glared at his old friend. 

"I am payed to convince people it's real, Phillip." He pointed out with an edge in his voice, rolling his eyes. Even if he did care for his co-star, nothing would come of it, and kissing her on camera in a scripted roll meant no one could ever prove that he had any feelings for her, at all.


	9. More Than Acting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want yo thank my lovely anons on tumblr for helping me a bit with this chapter, and don't worr, the dance isn't cut, it'll be in a dream :)

Eight weeks of filming was up, and Ella would readily admit she was sad to say good, though the reason why she felt this would remain purely due to all the friends she made. It was a partial truth. She had made friends, friends she would stay in touch with over the hiatus (provided there even was a second season) and hopefully meet up with again, even after the show, but there was particular person she would miss more than most. 

Mai Mai and Beldina had insisted they exchange details (as if they wouldn't have found a way to contact her anyway), and Ella was genuinely looking forward to hearing from them, even if she had no idea what they would do if they ever organised something, they were so different from her. Chelina had also demanded her number, but Miss Papille had a suspicion that her fellow actress would neglect to call and no longer felt the need to be so close to her. She was kind to her, and thought as well as she could of her, but Ella would not go out of her way to uphold relations. Avian and Newton also promised to call, with Beldina giggling about theories that Newton would be very enthusiastic about calling her (Ella felt more embarrassed in the awkward situation than actually flattered). 

Kit, however, was oddly silent about further contact. They had each others numbers, but there was no actual discussion as far as things went. The prolonged kiss in the reshoot episode had made things more complicated than either of them would have liked. Ella understood she had certain feelings concerning her co-star that were inappropriate, considering their different situations in life, and that the only way to maintain her career was for her to control those feelings. Kit also knew that it was so, so much more than just acting (on his side of the spectrum, at least), and that he was unconsciously heading towards making a move. He actively worked against, loudly and often in her company, any possibility that he and Chelina would do something at some point, he made that very clear to her, then started poking around for information on her (Avian was helpful, but she proved to be an enigma in most instances). He had even caught himself glaring at Newton, who he thought had an inclination towards Ella. 

So, Kit stood to the side of the ballroom at the wrap party, glaring over the rim of his champagne glass at Newton as he said something funny to Ella and Mai Mai, causing them to laugh. It didn't even register that Ella was only weakly smiling, nodding with the joke as Beldina howled. There, despondent and unengaged in conversation, he was a sitting duck for Chelina.

"You look remorseful, are you quite sure there is nothing you regret doing?" A voice whispered in his ear, and the actress appeared in his peripheral vision seconds later, her white dress clinging to her form, every movements sensualised. "Or not doing?" Her eyebrow raise was a taunting one, and it made Kit more aware of all the chances he had of just doing one little thing to show Ella that he... "I heard her talking about how poorly you kiss, y'know, one night at the bar." She continued in a breathy voice, nodding over to Ella. "I hate to disagree with anyone, but I had to when I heard her." Kit was shattered and insuled, for all of three seconds. 

"Was she saying that, or were you?" He inquired and she snorted in displeasure, pretending like she was offended by the very suggestion. The thing was, despite how high her payroll was, she was a terrible actor. 

"You like her, more than you want to admit." She observed with narrowed eyes. "What is it? The limp hair, the anorexia or the poverty that's so attractive?" Chelina swirled her red wine about, supposedly unoffended. 

"I don't know what you mean." He said, feigning disinterest and the high and mighty air so many of his friends used. "I think I might need another glass." He added, then quickly gulped down the remnants of his drink.

"Maybe it's that she's so desperate she'd sleep with anyone." Kit heard her say as he turned his back. "How did you think she landed the role?" He slowed his pace, more so that she didn't feel the need to shout than anything else. "Pure talent?" 

"I thought that was how you made it big." Kit teased, turning for barely more than a second. "Jared does like you a lot." She released an indignant, outraged squeal as he hurried to the closest waiter with a tray and swapped his empty glass with a full one, just as Ella moved to grab the same glass.

Ella had stood awkwardly by Mai Mai half the night, clutching onto her glass as she gradually drained it. Newton came over and made a few jokes, very often directed at her, expecting her to laugh, and she did laugh, until she grew tired. She didn't really want to leave. It wasn't like she was going home, she was going back to her stingy apartment with Poppy and the cockroaches (she was so sure they would have come back by now). Maybe Will, Poppy's on again/off again boyfriend, had moved in to help with the rent, she would have to have a discussion with the super when she got back. 

She couldn't help but think Kit was watching her from across the room, an intense gaze on her, until Chelina waltzed up, swinging her hips, and she felt a pang of jealousy. No one could blame her for wanting another drink. She almost cried aloud when their fingers brushed against each other, and she pulled her hand away with such force that her hand thumped against her chest. 

"I..I..I'm sorry!" She stammered, hastily choosing another glass just as he offered her the initial choice. She raised her glass in a toast, and he responded in kind. Have courage and be kind, she mentally encouraged herself, her mothers words helping her. He wasn't dangerous or frightening, he was just the definition of perfection. "I don't suppose we've seen a lot of each other, off set." She smiled, after taking a small sip that Kit found oddly adorable. 

"No, I don't think we have." He agreed. "It's fitting." He bashfully added, looking around the room. "Saying good bye when we danced here." It wasn't good bye, hopefully, but no one could guarantee a second season. 

"It is." She agreed. "I haven't danced before, like that." 

"Ballroom dancing was a skill I, also, had not learnt." Kit grinned. "Ella, can I show you something?"


	10. Believe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kit shows Ella the secret garden...

"It's a secret garden!" Ella breathed, the delight in her voice reaching Kit's ears, earning a grin from him. He would dedicate his life to hearing that sound, given the chance, and he unconsciously released a sigh of contentment. She looked about the place, marvelling at every beautiful detail as if she had never seen grass or flowers or light before, and Kit understood her amazement. "So this is where you sneak off to?" This was a place of innocence and untainted safety, away from giggling assistants and striving actors. "It's..." Ella searched for words, brown eyes meeting blue ones with her admiration of the place so evident. "It's magical." 

Kit didn't believe in magic. He had stopped believing in everything otherworldly, mystical or unexplainable by science the moment his mother passed away, but now, watching Ella wonder at such simple things, he felt he could believe. She herself looked to be an angel as she stood by the swing, slim black dress enunciating her form, near golden hair falling down passed her shoulders. Her sweet, gentle smile made his heart beat just that much faster. 

"You must promise not to reveal it's location, I'm afraid." Kit said with a laugh, and Ella felt (not for the first or last time) grateful that he felt he could trust her enough to share this piece of heaven with her. They hardly knew each other, but Ella felt like they had something, some connection, that caused him to trust her and she, in turn, trust him.

"I promise." Their eyes locked, and he indicated to the side with a nudge of his head, drawing her focus away from his sky blue eyes - she had near lost herself in their depths - to an old swing that someone had set up years before, tied artfully around an overhanging tree branch. "I shouldn't." Ella murmured, shaking her head. She had heels on, a tight dress on, and the swing might have been damp, thanks to the faint drizzle the gardens had seen earlier in the evening.

"You should." He didn't break his questioning stare, not for a moment, and she knew her reasons were incorrect. 

"I shouldn't." Ella could not remember the last time she had played on a swing set, could not remember the last time she had even truly played, at all. Following her fathers untimely death, she had quickly fallen into the position of subservient slave to her step family, though she would deny such things. She had been happy to help out around the house, doing the odd fixer upper to save her stepmother a little money, get a job to make things easier. She had not been quite so eager to see her hard earned money go straight into her stepmothers pocket, however, and her constant absence at school (in an attempt to make ends meet) jeopardised her scholarship, but her home washer home and she could not muster the strength to leave it for years after she should have. As you might see, she had never had any time to have fun. 

"You should." Kit insisted, knowing he could continue this back and forth debate for a while. To emphasise his determination, he moved to behind the swing, steadying the ropes, awaiting her compliance. It wasn't as though he believed she would bend to persuasion, he was aware she had a resilient streak to match his patience (evidence of it being of how genuine she was, even though her chosen profession was acting and she spent her day to day life alongside such fake people in fake worlds). He persisted, because he could tell she wanted to. Ella was playful, Ella was even immature at times, she wanted to play. 

"I will." She allowed, giving in to her hidden wants. As she took her seat, she became very much aware of Kit's presence behind her, and in any other dress, with any other person, she would of felt at risk of some serious cleavage reveal. But, the dress nearly reached her neck and she supposed Kit would not look, anyway, he was too much of a gentleman. Her breath hitched as his fingertips brushed against her back, pushing gently and electrifying her skin through the fabric. 

Kit, though he did not admit it to himself, almost regretted how closed up her dress was, before mentally chastising himself for such ungentlemanly thoughts, before carefully pushing her forward, gaining a steady rhythm by the third push. She was so light, so petite and seemingly breakable, Kit could easily have forgotten how strong she was - until he saw her eyes, turning to see him as his pushing slowed to a halt. They were bright with joy, with the blissful quaintness of childhood pleasures, and he could feel himself melt in her gaze. 

She noticed the unknown expression flicker onto his face, saw his eyes take on a hazy glow and failed to pin point what emotions she saw written on his features. Adoration, admiration, respect... Desire? Ella knew, without even thinking about it, her face mirrored his, and she did very much hope it had the same affect on him as it had on her - said affect being she felt un almost unrestrainable urge, a need more than a want, to kiss him. 

Neither remembered who was the one to do it, but within seconds their lips were hungrily devouring each other, one of Ella's arms drawing him closer down to him as his welcomed hands wrapped about her. Energy was coursing through their bodies, demanding attention as the pair staggered, hands and often bodies interlocked, up to a hotel room. 

In that flurried, rushed and heated moment, Kit could almost believe that magic was real and Ella could almost believe that what they had could work out, that maybe, just maybe, they could be together, maybe love each other. That night they could have believed anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be up soon, I promise! And things will be filled in, explained and dealt with at length :)


	11. The Morning

The door gave way behind her with an audible click, the key turning in the lock as Kit returned his mouth to her neck, biting down hard on the tender flesh. Her hands running up his back quickened their pace, now seeking untrodden ground at the opening to bare skin around his neck. Ella had never felt this way before, and everything was going so fast, but she would not dare consider slowing down - she was the last person who wanted things to slow down. 

It took Kit longer than it should have to shrug his jacket off, maybe because removing his jacket meant removing his mouth from it's roaming expeditions around the base of her neck. By the time it came off, Ella was already exerting all her energy in pulling at the buttons of his shirt. Needless to say, he was soon focused on her dress, and the troublesome zip up her back. Soon enough, they found themselves half naked on the bed... 

With a warm feeling in her heart, a golden glow inside her chest that enveloped her in what she could only describe as a feeling of absolute safety, Ella was torn from slumber by the stirring of someone to her right. She was face down on a pillow that smelt distinctly of soap and cologne, and completely naked under the crisp sheets. She had heard enough stories to understand her head should be throbbing, but she quickly banished the assumption. She had not been anywhere near drunk last night, even if the...exertions of the previous night argued against sobriety. Ella wasn't sure what she was more confused by, however, her lack of intoxication or Kit's. 

Ella recalled, with a new degree of fondness, the night before. She didn't regret, for an instant, how little she had drank - it meant she had remembered every little detail, even the meaningless ones like how Kit had fumbled for his room key, tearing his lips away from her mouth, her neck, her collarbone, as little as possible in the process. Ella felt her insides burn, her skin flush as her blood rushed to her skin, a thrill of electricity coursing in her veins, remembering his kisses, his touches and his moans. She imagined she had been no better, in that regard. 

Even while she collected the memories of the night, the knowledge that it was a new day came to daunt her. Where did that leave them, now? They weren't friends, exactly, so it wasn't as though they were complicating something other than a professional dynamic, but she knew that any friendliness exchanged could grow cold, deteriorating to awkward nods and brief ‘hello's’. Did it mean anything, anything at all? Did this mean her feelings were mutual, or had he been merely flattered by her attentiveness and decided to try his luck? No, Kit wouldn't do that, even if he was a professional actor. Still, a fear of the unknown kicked in, an unfamiliar instinct that had hardly ever reached her before, and she resisted the urge to scramble out of bed before Kit became too conscious of his surroundings. Only her mothers words - was it strange to think of her mother in such instances? - stopped her. Have courage, have courage and be kind. 

From beside her, Kit released a small groan, rolling over to face her with bewildered happiness, having the pleasant surprise greet him, even while he was still in a sleepy daze. He still had his special grin on, and all Ella's fears of him regretting the night before were tossed to the curb. Someone waking up to shame and a difficult explanation would not grin so broadly. He was content, and Ella felt so happy in that instant, she was sure she had not been so elated. She returned his smile, only for it to die on her lips as he moved to kiss her, a knock on the door shattering any intentions either had of returning to a former position. 

Ella hardly had time to reach for her discarded clothes before diving into the bathroom, just as Newton opened the unlocked door. 

The room, following the removal of female clothing, seemed in order. Poorly attended to clothes implied a tired and/ or drunk Kit coming up later and crawling into bed, and the disgruntled bed could have been passed off as evidence of a rough sleeper. The removed underwear gave him too much insight into his colleagues preference when state of dress while asleep was concerned, but he supposed that was not so unusual. His alertness, however, did not indicate being drunk or tired, as he sat up in bed, hands resting on top of the covers between his the obscured forms of his raised knees. Newton was willing to pass his suspicions off, ready to attribute his being alert to an early morning coffee, before he caught sight of the black pair of heels that were on the floor. 

He winked at a petrified Kit, tossing a distinctly feminine looking magazine at him in the process. It was one of those housewives celebrity gossip ones, full of dieting plans and star pregnancy excitement, in addition to actors engagement announcements and articles on lead singers torrid affairs. He was confused initially, before he took a closer look.

Chelina was featured on the cover, with the words “Back-stage Gossip” printed beside a head and shoulder shot in a round, bumpy font generally used to incur a sense of homeliness, and in italic “an insight into the world of acting and period drama's, romance and conspiracy on and off camera”. A sickening feeling in his gut told Kit that the romance alluded to was most likely his supposed interactions with her, and there were only two words he felt like uttering. However, jumping up, throwing aside the only piece of fabric preserving his modesty and thundering "that bitch!" did not seem, to him, a very rational reaction. To emphasise his distress, one must not that Kit Regale rarely swore, if ever. 

"It's a load of bull, obviously." Newton explained. "Talks about you and her, but she says you couldn't make a commitment and she understood." Newton snorted at his own last words. "As if." While Chelina was hitting on him, in some twisted way, last night, she had been fully aware that she had made a statement encouraging bad press on him. The woman was infuriating. 

Ella heard all this through the bathroom door, but she had her own worries, her phone going off as Poppy's caller I.D appeared and Kit made some strangled yelping noise in an attempt to cover it.


	12. Goodbye

The problem with friends like Poppy (loud, slightly intrusive and energetic, if they're not hungover from the insane party they attended the night before) is that they do not interpret declining a call as their friend being in an inappropriate place to take a call, they merely see it as a challenge. A little game to see who gets tired first, the caller or the decliner. So, even as Ella slid ‘decline’ across the screen, she guessed it would be ineffective. 

"You alright there?" Newton frowned, looking at Kit with a degree of worry. Kit merely nodded, inside panicking far more than Ella was. He often did that. "You look a little pale." Another nod. Newton decided not to go into the numerous reasons why Kit may have screamed, instead growing disinterested and looked about the room for a point of conversation, fully intending to be present when he read the article. "Page three." He prompted. Kit quickly set about reading it. 

"God." He groaned, catching sight of a leaked picture of onset, with Chelina and him standing side by side. Kit would admit they looked to be familiar with each other, but he knew he wouldn't have been thinking about her if he was so relaxed. He had been watching Ella, who was conveniently not in the frame or even mentioned. 

“He has some difficulties that I respect, and he knows to give me a call when he gets through them.” Was a quote to the side. Kit visibly cringed, and Newton laughed - right up until he caught sight of something partially hidden underneath the bed. 

"I always thought you'd look good in black heels." He complimented Kit with a knowing smirk. "Must be hell on your feet, though." Kit blinked twice, firstly in confusion and secondly in shock. Ell looked down to the pile of clothes at her feet and saw that one of her shoes was missing. There was an audible sound of someone hitting their head against a door coming from the bathroom. "Don't worry, not going to say anything to your ‘ex’." He joked. "Seriously though, she is going to find out. "Do I know her?"

"No." He was contradicted by the sound of a ringtone filling the room. 

"Aren't you going to get that?"

"I'll let it ring." He shrugged, going with the flow, his heart ceasing to do backflips. "Probably just Duke checking in on me." His agent (he shared him with his father) never ceased to call at least once a week, to make sure he wasn't doing anything that could be damaging publicity. He didn't see why he needed to call when he knew he where he was twenty four hours a day. The paparazzi made sure that the whole world knew. 

"Isn't that Ella's?" Newton asked, eyebrows knitting together as he recognised the little lullaby. 

"Is it?" Kit backtracked. "It's not mine or um Ella's." He quickly lied. "It's that mystery girl in the bathroom's."

"You know her name, right?" The most difficult of question about one night stands - although, Kit did not want it to be just a one night stand or a week or two of just constant sex (though he wouldn't object to throwing that into the package). What he wanted with Ella was a relationship, but he only pieced that together when they were unable to communicate. 

"Of course I know her name! It's a... It's.. You know she can hear us? We can hear that phone, so she can hear us!" Newton shrugged with a pout. 

"What am I meant to do about your poor memory?" Newton was not being helpful, at all. He wasn't Kit's friend, really, just Ella's. He adored Ella. What would he do if he found out? Kit was convinced that, even if he was not very muscly, Newton would probably throw a heavy object at him with the intent to harm. "You can answer that now!" The melody was getting a little irritating for Newton, but Kit liked it. It was sweet. 

Ella, from behind the now locked bathroom door, accepted the call and brought the volume down to a minimum (she had good hearing and Poppy's traditional greeting would reveal her identity at once). A high pitched squeal of “Ella!!!! Ella! Ella!” erupted from the speakers and Ella was grateful for her foresight, bring the phone closer and murmuring into it. 

"Poppy, this really isn't a good time." Her voice was a hoarse whisper, but her friend ignored her low, slightly terrified, tone. 

"Why haven't you been answering my calls?" Poppy demanded. "Wait, did you finally bang him?" 

"What?!" 

"Are you the commitment problem? Y'know I thought it was strange you weren't in the article, all the others were." 

"What? Look, Poppy, could you help me with something? Please? I'm trapped in a bathroom - don't ask - and I need to pick a lock on the door that goes into the hallway." The second door was blocked by the built in bath, a relic from the old days when servants filled free standing copper tins with boiling water, but with Poppy's coaching she thought she might make some progress. Poppy knew a lot about locks, more than someone who had stayed within the confines of the law would, and while that all ended before Ella met her, her skills were handy when they lost the keys to their apartment. 

"Is it an old lock?"

"Yeah."

"Grab something thick but with a pointed edge." 

"Like a toothbrush?"

"I can't believe you were a teenager that never learnt how to pick a lock! Jesus Christ not a toothbrush!" 

It took less than five minutes, Ella hastily donning her crumpled dress once the door was unlocked and tiptoes passed Kit's door, heading to the stairs and praying no one opened their door to see her sneaking away from her co-stars room. She dressed in a hurry, seeing it was almost nine o'clock and she had agreed to meet Beldina at five passed (they lived a few blocks from each other, so they were car pooling, but Beldina was in a less mugging and stabbing sort of area). 

Most people would be glad to be going home, but not Ella. When Beldina literally dragged her and the small amount of luggage down to the cars, all she could think of was saying good bye to Kit. She was not given the opportunity.


	13. Distress Over the Dress

Ella knelt over the white cardboard box, suppressing a sob as she ran her hands through the shreds of pink and purple hued fabric, the gossamer ribbons representing, to her, her torn apart family and the malice some people could possess. What a fool she was for having dreams, for expecting there to be goodness in the world. The material was like water on her thin skin, providing the illusion of comfort and she wept for that soothing sensation as much as the destroyed dress. 

They had cut it up, her mothers old dress - the one she had worn at her engagement party some decades beforehand. The scissors were enclosed, gaudy green tools of destruction, along with the delicate note Ella had spent hours on. How many times had she rewritten it, deciding how she might phrase herself, clearly and effectively (but politely) expressing her request. She had come out as perfectly kindly, but assertive, and had received the response of a slap in the face - through symbolism, obviously. 

"The bitches." Poppy breathed from the moulding doorway. She was broken, but repressed the sobbing the heart ache inflicted on her - until she was alone in her room. Then she cried. She cried for her broken promise to her mother. She could not have courage in the world, not following this setback. She could not be kind to her stepfamily, not after this. Her faith in the goodness of the world was lost - for what she thought was eternity. 

"I'm sorry." Ella cried, burying her face in the box (it smelt like dust and soap), hiding her tears from the cruel, hateful world. "I'm sorry, Mother. So, so sorry..." 

The only thing she heard for, maybe, half an hour was the sound of a phone receiving a text message. It was a twinkling sound, an unfamiliar one to Ella's ears. That was when she felt the presence of another on her back and she stilled, breath evening and heart slowing as she recovered her composure. 

"Pretty." The lilt in her voice was unmistakeable, even if her shoes weren't enough to distinguish her, Ella's eyes travelling up from the floor as she turned to face her unexpected company. "It's a shame." Leanore Rose was standing in the doorway to her crummy bedroom, mourning her mothers old dress. Her bedroom, complete with a shrieking mattress, a neighbour above that plays guitar at random intervals and an old stain in the corner that the super once ‘joked’ was from when a wife shot her husband dead a few years ago. Ella was suddenly very conscious of her.. of her poverty, really. 

The shows costume designer had promised she was going to be doing the rounds for the members of the cast with less public relations managers, taking on the title of fashion consultant in the process, and now it seemed she found Ella, up the creek with no paddle - just a pile of shredded silks. She looked so wrong beside the mildewed doorframe, shining white clothes standing out against the filthy walls, and Ella slowly rose to her feet, very aware that, compared to the main cast, she was one step up from homeless. 

"I take it that was your dress." Ella nodded, flushing. "I remember the year that number went out." She smiled fondly, as if it were a happy memory. "Have you got a plan b?" It was a stupid question, and both knew it. The look on Ella's face read ‘do I look like I can afford a plan b?’, even if she only sighed and shook her head. "I have a wonderful idea." The grin on Leanore's face was almost manic as she seized Ella's wrists, hauling her up from the floor as gently as possible. "Come with me." Ella was about to object - she had just come out of the shower for crying out loud! But she knew it wouldn't stop Leanore. Sweat pants, wet hair and a singlet looked commonplace in her area, after all, but once they reached anywhere the costumer would bring her to she would stick out like a sore thumb.   
_

"She's sensible." Phillip guessed from the other side of the limo, staring out of the window, assessing all threats. 

"How can you know that from a shoe?" Kit's asked with scrutiny, in no mood to revisit the topic of who's shoe it is. No one had guessed, but he still was not willing to encourage conversation - just in case it lead them down the trail. He didn't even know how he felt about that night, anyway. He liked her, of course he still liked her, but there was a shift in his impressions, the main attributer being that she hadn't stayed to say good bye. Not even a brief wave. He had gone down to the lobby, ready to assure her that none of it was mistake - he knew she'd think he regretted it - and had felt a word class idiot when the help desk had to tell him she had checked out. 

Since then, no contact had been made. He had her cell. Was it immature to wait for her to call him, was it petty and lame? Kit knew it was more his ego keeping him from texting than anything else, but if she really liked him, then surely she would have reached put by now. He couldn't mask the hurt and the feel of rejection.

"It' a high heel, Kit." Phillip argued. "It tells you a lot about their personality." 

"Shut it, Captain." He liked being called Captain, like how Kit preferred being called Kit. It was a nickname his father introduced, and it had stuck. Christopher seemed so pathetic to the five year old, anyway, especially after he read the Winnie the Pooh books. "There's only so much you can do to a shoes, anyway."  
_

"They're made of glass?" Ella frowned, worry creasing her fair face as Leanore presented the first of the ensemble she had tirelessly searched for (Ella had been sitting in that same chair at L.Rose HQ for over an hour, waiting for Leanore to finish flittering about). 

"Yes." Leanore nodded. "And you'll find their very comfortable. Now, where's that dress?"


	14. A Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After maybe or maybe not kidnapping her, Kit and Ella have a much needed discussion.

Just how exactly did Ella Papille find herself locked in a spacious limo with the most attractive man on screen at one o'clock in the morning? It was a curious situation to be in, and gossip worthy if anyone were to find out, but then again, it had taken curious circumstances for her to end up where she was. She was sitting right next to Kit, a person she was quite seriously attracted to (and not just through baser instincts), all because of the unneeded cruelty of her stepfamily. Fate was a curious thing. 

Kit, personally, couldn't believe she was there either, and looking a complete and utter goddess, even if he was still considerably hurt and confused. Despite the camera's, he had gone so far as to release a giddy sort of laugh when she arrived on the red carpet, face brightening and eyes gleaming as his heart swelled. He couldn't help it, she was gorgeous, her inner light shining through like sun rays through silver clouds. The crowd had held their breaths for a second, stunned into silence by the unexpected appearance of such a divine being, most of the camera's were directed at her within a heartbeat and the rest of the cast could only gasp and stare. 

"Captain, could we have a private word?" Kit asked at last, ending the silence that had consumed the three occupants. By 'we' he quite obviously meant Ella and himself, but his head of security, who was in the passenger seat beside the chauffeur now, ignored his request long enough for the actor to reiterate it. "Could you please use the screen." The chauffeur obligingly tapped a button and Ella and Kit were sealed in a bubble of their own. Her silence persisted.

He had tried to catch her when they walked in, but the prettiest ones were always swarmed by reporters and social climbers at every event, and he had lost her in the crowds. The only other person he could see in the sea of plus ones was Chelina, who was doing very well on the stringing men along front. 

"Why did you leave?" His tone quite clearly indicated he was not discussing the premiere, or any social gathering since the wrap party. He was referring to the morning after, the rude interruption and her disappearance. 

"I figured people may have started looking for me and if Newt knew you had a girl.." Ella did not reach the end of the sentence trailing off and leaving all the implications to float about the air. Did she not want anyone to know? Was it because she was ashamed, or because she wanted it to continue? Was it too embarrassing for anyone to discuss, or did she just want to keep things platonic? 

The key question, really, was simple. Did they consider it a mistake? 

"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" Ella proceeded, making her own conclusions. "He thought it was me, and you lied." It wasn't as if Kit was a pathological liar, in fact he rarely ever lied. Selective honesty wasn't a trait, either. It was strange, to notice that Newton had succeeded in bending his generally upfront and blunt take on what the truth was. Or rather, spending so much time with Ella had helped him understand when it was kind to tell the truth and when it was not (not that she lied often, either).

"Because he likes you, and I didn't want to injure his feelings." But please, please understand that I would do anything to bring you into my arms, not his. 

"Were you protecting his feelings or yourself?" It was not news that Newt liked her. The entire cast at least suspected it, and Ella wasn't sure how she felt about that. It was a nice feeling, after all, being liked, but there was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach when anyone mentioned it, Ella knowing she did not reciprocate his feelings in the least. 

"I wasn't thinking about myself." He deadpanned, even if he had been - just a little and NOT in the way she obviously thought. A part of him had wanted to keep that night a precious secret, something he could take out of a hiding place in his mind and think over it again and again, not denying it only to save face. 

"You quite clearly think it was a mistake." Ella retorted, and there was a bite in her words like nothing she had uttered before. She begged herself not to hear his reply, but it was a question, not a confirmation. 

"Do you?" Ella picked at the grey and silvers stones that sparkled on her dress, mustering the courage to say what she really felt. 

"No." Her voice was ragged through pain, but Kit could feel only pure elation at the reply. "I couldn't never think of that as a mistake." It was then that Ella noticed in the corner of her eye the odd way Kit looked at her, somewhere between stunned and bursting with joy. "I..." Tentative hands found her face, drawing her closer as blue eyes sought permission, and then his lips were on hers and she was returning the kiss with fervour. 

It must have been a few minutes before they drew to a halt, but for them it was both eternity and a second, and both released each other with dissatisfied whines. 

"We have a lot to talk about." Kit laughed as they separated, Ella adjusting her hair ever so slightly. 

"We do." She agreed, opening the now unlocked door to find her street. She was thankful for the tinted windows once more. 

"Ella, you forgot your shoes." Ella blushed, mumbling her thanks as she received her missing heels. "I'll call you." That was a promise he fully intended to keep.


End file.
